Volunteers needed as Spring Seedling Sale nears

GAYLORD — The common wisdom is a good way to celebrate Earth Day, Monday, April 22, is to plant a tree.

And if planting one tree is making a difference, then helping prepare thousands of trees to be planted by hundreds of people is truly heroic.

Enter the Otsego Conservation District. For decades, the conservation district has provided residents of Otsego County and beyond a high quality, low cost stock of trees, shrubs, small and large fruits and various other botanical delicacies at its annual Spring Seedling Sale fundraiser.

The sale of these items is responsible for generating more than half of the revenue used by the conservation district to support day-to-day operations, including all the time that goes into creating, planning, coordinating and carrying out a host of environmental education programming.

This includes the CEE Art in the Garden Festival, Kids’ Conservation Day Camp, Seed to Harvest 4-H Junior Master Gardener Club, workshops on diverse topics of interest and much more.

That means that when someone makes a purchase at the OCD Seedling Sale Fundraiser, they are actually helping protect the Earth twice, once by increasing vegetation and thus habitat for wildlife and again by supporting environmental education for Otsego County youth and adults.

Even those who don’t have the ability to purchase anything from the fundraiser this year can still take part in April’s spirit of environmental action by becoming a Spring Seedling Sale fundraiser volunteer.

The conservation district will prepack trees, shrubs and everything else for its sale April 16-18 and April 22-25.

The sale itself will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, April 26 (Arbor Day), and Saturday, April 27.

Anybody’s support as a customer and/or volunteer is appreciated.

For more information or to sign up as a volunteer, contact Justin Burchett at 732-4021 or e-mail jburchett@otsegocountymi.gov.

Burchett is a Huron Pines AmeriCorps member serving as the education coordinator at the conservation district.

Huron Pines AmeriCorps is a program of Huron Pines and is supported in part by the Corporation for National and Community Service, Michigan Community Service Commission, Huron Pines and contributions from host sites.

Huron Pines is a nonprofit organization and an equal opportunity provider.